Madras High Court Issues Notice On Scriptwriter's Plea Claiming Nani's HIT 3 Movie Is An Unauthorised Adaptation Of His Work

The Madras High Court has issued notice on a script writer's plea alleging that the recent movie starring Nani is an unauthorised adaptation of his story. Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy issued notice returnable by July 7, 2025, and adjourned the plea. The notices were ordered on a petition filed by Vimal @ Vimalavelan, who was a script writer and an author. Vimal had sought a declaration that the movie “HIT: The Third Case (HIT 3) was an adaptation of his registered script and to permanently restrain the respondents from assigning any further rights of the movie and from committing any further acts of infringement. Vimal had also sought for rendition of accounts of the profits made by the movie and for payment of damages and compensation at the rate of 20%. Vimal had submitted that he had developed the original script and had registered it with the South Indian Film Writers' Association on 4th August, 2021. He submitted that he had sent the synopsis of the original script to Nani on 8th August, 2022, with an intention to collaborate and work with him. However, there was no response. He submitted that upon the release of the HIT 3 movie, when he watched the movie in the theatre, he was shocked to see that the movie was entirely based on his script with minor changes. Vimal also gave details of similarities between his script and the movie's story. Vimal further informed the court that though he had issued a legal notice to the respondents asking them to cease and desist from committing any infringement of his intellectual property, there was no response to the legal notices. He also submitted that he had also filed a complaint with the South Indian Film Writers' Association, along with sufficient proof but no action had been taken on the complaint. Vimal thus argued that the act of the respondents had caused him irretrievable financial loss. Considering the urgency of the matter, Vimal also sought exemption from pre-suit mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act. Case Title: K Vimal Vimalavelan v. Naveen Babu Ghanta @ Nani and Others Case No: OA No 612 of 2025 in CS (Comm Div) No. 153 of 2025

Madras High Court Issues Notice On Scriptwriter's Plea Claiming Nani's HIT 3 Movie Is An Unauthorised Adaptation Of His Work

Upasana Sajeev

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